


Pale Kids

by casey_rat



Series: Little Nightmares 2 - JSHK TBHK AU [2]
Category: Little Nightmares (Video Game), 地縛少年花子くん | Jibaku Shounen Hanako-kun | Toilet-bound Hanako-kun (Manga)
Genre: Blood, But also, Canon-Typical Violence, Dissociation, F/M, Friendship, Gen, Horror aspects, Hurt/Comfort, I'm Bad At Tagging, Implied Tsuchigomori, Little Nightmares (Video Game) - Freeform, Little Nightmares AU, Mentioned Yugi Tsukasa, No Beta Read we die like Tsukasa, POV Hanako | Yugi Amane, for LN2, hanako is a little shit, learning to be friends i mean, not nearly as bad as last fic, or something, traumatic experience probably, yashiro being a good mother hen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-03-06
Updated: 2021-03-06
Packaged: 2021-03-19 10:35:17
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,122
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29873352
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/casey_rat/pseuds/casey_rat
Summary: “Um…” Quick! Improv doesn’t teach you to stutter and forget your sentences around girls! His thoughts raced as he carelessly picked his words. “So, your ankles… are they swollen? Did you get hit?” Maybe she was tied up by them, An unwanted thought persists in his head.Quite quickly, it became apparent that it was not the right choice of words.He felt her pale hair and hard head against his jaw, and he choked on the air leaving him before stumbling back.“Ow!” He whined, clutching his jaw. His first instinct was to be furious, but all his emotions flooded as some sort of physical-mental pain hybrid, along with confusion and frustration. Wait a second before making any hasty, inhumane decisions.
Relationships: Hanako | Yugi Amane & Yashiro Nene, Hanako | Yugi Amane/Yashiro Nene, kinda not really - Relationship
Series: Little Nightmares 2 - JSHK TBHK AU [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2184684
Kudos: 6





	Pale Kids

Chapter 2  
‘ ‘ Pale City , ,

It was a while before they got to land again. Previously, they had escaped the Hunter, jumped on a makeshift-raft (which they both agreed the physics made no sense here), and ended up on the shore of a gloomy looking building. Hanako could feel a dull vibration in his ears, similar to a high-frequency signal. It bored into his brain, filling every hole in his body. As gross as it sounds, the less he thought about it, the less chills ran and irritated his poor spine and skin. He slightly wondered if the girl felt it too, but.. She hadn’t said anything, as vocal as girls are, and she didn’t exactly look disturbed. 

Perhaps it was simply because of all the chaos they were passing on their way through a broken building. The floors were made of rotting wood, as if nothing has been done about this place for a good century. Thin, white spiderwebs crowded dark corners, yet it looked like there was nothing living (aside from the two of them) within a 40 kilometer radius. They hadn’t spoken for a while now, simple beckons every now and again when they got separated going into rooms where the other could not follow. Usually it would be her hoisting him up and letting him crawl through a hole otherwise out of reach, and then he would come back for her somehow, someway.   
He had actually tried to convince her to go first after having to face untold horrors alone (coming back visibly shaken); within 5 seconds flat she accused him of being a sicko if he ever even entertained the idea of her body being held above his head. He got the memo, and flushed up if the thought ever occurred to him. 

This city was odd, he decided. They had wandered around a while ago and ended up in an alleyway. There wasn’t much around except.. Discarded clothes.

Just discarded clothes. Faded and damaged newspapers, but the clothes were more freaky. They weren’t just on the floor: they were ‘sitting’ in chairs, they were hanging off of ledges, and- horrifically, nooses. It gave them both the chills, disturbing Hanako at least down to his very core. As harsh, cold winds bit at their exposed skin, Hanako spared a few wary glances to his new partner. They wandered into an open door, ending up in yet another building. It looked like an office, and he wasn’t exactly sure what drew him in here.

It must have drawn her in too, right? If she was willing to make the decision to wander in here with me, she must have felt it.

“G--” He started, quietly- thankfully, because he was just about to refer to her as ‘girl’.

She had a name.

“Y-Yashiro…” He finally corrected, slightly less-than gracefully. 

She only gave a noncommittal hum back, slowly bringing him to the realization that he didn’t have anything to say to her. Did he just want to test out her name? A light pink flush spread on his cheeks, perhaps out of embarrassment.   
A few minutes of walking around the lobby led them to the elevator, still surprised that electricity was still on in here.

“What is it?” She asked finally, guiding him into the creaky elevator as she threw a pop can onto one of the buttons. It hit a few, and they didn’t exactly know where they were going-- he assumed, but it got the job done. There weren’t 50 floors or something, but it was still a decent amount. 

“Um…” Quick! Improv doesn’t teach you to stutter and forget your sentences around girls! His thoughts raced as he carelessly picked his words. “So, your ankles… are they swollen? Did you get hit?” Maybe she was tied up by them, An unwanted thought persists in his head.

Quite quickly, it became apparent that it was not the right choice of words.

He felt her pale hair and hard head against his jaw, and he choked on the air leaving him before stumbling back.  
“Ow!” He whined, clutching his jaw. His first instinct was to be furious, but all his emotions flooded as some sort of physical-mental pain hybrid, along with confusion and frustration. Wait a second before making any hasty, inhumane decisions. 

Never hit a girl. That’s what your mother always said. Be kind with girls.

It hasn’t ever been this difficult to follow your philosophy this much in your entire life.

(Ah, talking to himself. Normal for our beloved main character, huh?)  
Like a second voice echoing within his head.

“My ankles are perfectly normal!” She screeched, and it felt like he could just barely hear her words. To think the ringing in his ears and in his head could come back at the worst time. 

Well, what do you expect? I was headbutted by a girl! She has some strength in that little body.  
I wonder if she took any fighting classes. It wouldn’t be atypical, especially because of how men treat women nowadays.

“Okay, okay! I’m sorry!” He pleaded, just barely noticing her absence. The elevator had started and howled on its way up to the top floors while the incident went down, and he was left alone in an elevator, scrambling to his feet to follow her out into the room of office cubicles before the doors threatened to close on him. “Yashiro!” He tried again, rubbing his throat and jawline. She turned to him with a glare, meeting his eyes. Within seconds, her expression went from angry to soft; soft to confused; confused to concerned; concerned to surprise; and finally, surprise to a contemplating look. He could only imagine the hurt in his expression, Hanako has always been told that he is very expressive and that they could almost feel him.

“Sorry. But you deserved it!” She protested gently, “hasn’t anyone taught you to be nice to girls?!”

Yeah.

“Let’s just go,” he grumbled, rubbing the sore spot one last time before the ache subsided long enough to free his hands.

Giant, grey cubicles arranged in a neat maze. This room was too big for their tiny little pattering feet, but they persisted. Together.

That was.. Until the lights started flickering. Anxiety pooled in his stomach alarmingly quickly; veins full of adrenaline within 2 seconds. Hanako dared to glance up, but it seemed like the flickering stopped as soon as he looked up.

It was almost as if it was a trick of his imagination… but..

“Do you-”

A high pitched, blood-curdling scream emitted from his new friend. It was possibly the most terrifying thing he’s heard with his own ears in a while; it kept ringing over and over in his head while he shot his attention to the girl who clung to him.

He followed her gaze.

Cobwebs.  
Multiple human-sized cocoons were trapped inside, leaving a crawling feeling up his arm. There was blood splatter on the wall, with a huge eyeball painted in red. There were even bodies hung at the bottom, and behind the web. His breath hitched, revealing worst of all:

A monster.   
A being with 8 legs, a gross body, beady, red eyes littering the head and body alike. White on black, silver in the dark lighting. Sharp, long fangs from a ghoulish mouth. The head was pale and shaped oddly similar to a human skull, black and white hair running down and almost dragging on the floor. The face looked like it had been permanently stuck in a scream. 

Protectively guarding its nest, staring right at them.

As if we’re its next meal.

It was possible to rule out that they wouldn’t have been spotted if it weren’t for his acquaintance’s soul-chilling scream, but sooner or later, they would have been snuck up on.

The power went out. Shrouded in darkness, with only the reflection from the windows that lined the far west side of the room and bright red eyes for guidance. 

Yashiro.

He felt his hand on her white wrist in a second flat, but she already had the same idea: they ducked into a cubicle, while he dared to open up the bottom filing cabinet. He let go and hopped up the drawer, climbing the handles up to a dust-ridden desk.

“Yashiro.” He called, urgency in his voice, yet he couldn’t find it in himself to display it so greatly. His fight or flight made him weak; specifically in the head. 

She followed after him just as fast, heading towards the ridges in the dark compartment walls and making her way up and onto the trim at the top as eight loud, deformed nubs stomped against the ceiling. He tumbled over a stack of papers, a newspaper crumpling beneath his shoes. The paper was dirty with black and brown stains, and the characters on the page were alienated. Something told him that they weren’t in Japan anymore.

In this case, they should be close to the floor, right? Well, yes, but no.

This risky plan was putting them right in the line of sight of a predator, but it was the only way. 

His small body trembled with adrenaline, boosting himself up the side and running with her haphazardly as the body in his corner-vision neared closer and closer.  
The power had been tripped: which meant that the elevator wasn’t an option anymore. The door handles were too high to reach, and if they were in range, his gut feeling was telling him:

‘No. Don’t do it.’  
You know what they say: trust your gut.

Not only that, but his head pounded and his body formed unknown aches when he considered it, making him want to regurgitate his last meal right then and there. He faintly conjured up memories of it- foreshadowing- and the scenario burned in his skull.

He’d be boosted up to reach the handle, but as his body weight pulled down, his small body got snatched out of the air. His poor companion was next, and then it was pitch black.

The only way that they could escape at this point was either throwing themselves out a window, or through the vents. If he could properly envision it in his brain, the ‘throw yourself out the window!’ plan would probably prove itself to be more dangerous than taking the vents. It was a small space, and it was above reasonable floor-height, so they couldn’t just jump to it-- but it was the only (good) option.

A slim, black, hairy leg slammed into the metal, cracking its exterior within an instant. The monster didn’t even seem to recoil in hurt; as if pain was nonexistent to the demorphed being.

He gasped loudly when Yashiro screamed again, and he lunged for her hand to keep her from falling a good 5 foot drop. Well, then again, it seemed more like 20 feet, and that was incredibly daunting.

Then, a slim appendage wrapped around his stomach with an indestructible grip. His hand slipped- he assumes, being yanked back by this behemoth. His memory was fuzzy, and he couldn’t remember anything after that.

Well, if that even happened, I mean. 

When the wall crumbled beneath the spider’s tough legs, he had already pulled her back to keep her from moving for only a second: and then made a wild jump and slide with her body in a death grip. He very well could lose her if he made any wrong moves. 

The body released a distorted scream, bones crunching against the crumbling ceiling tiles as it ran after them again. His own breath in his ears toned down the screeching, but a part of him still knew it was there.

They neared the vent.  
Hanako let go of her.  
They held onto the latch, pulling on the cover.  
It was a race against time;  
A matter of life-or-death.  
Once the vent was opened, she let there be no hesitance when she dived in. He followed close behind, crawling through the horizontal pathway as a loud thunk hit the metal behind him.

An arm snaked into the vent. He yelped, staring back at it. It was only then that he noticed red glowing eyes on those appendages, disturbing him to his core. There was a light thump in front of him, and he barely had time to process it before he was falling face-first down the vent and into hard metal flooring.

Yashiro grabbed his arm when he attempted to curl up out of pure pain and fear, dragging him along through the vents as the black, fuzzy leg persisted. His other hand was holding his face, unsure if the copious amounts of blood was emitting from his mouth or his nose. 

They climbed up a ladder, and the black leg followed.  
Through another straight path, and the black leg followed.  
This time; through multiple paths- but the black leg could see well, and it persisted.

He sputtered on the metallic taste in his mouth, starting to feel a tad bit woozy.  
Was the room spinning? A roundabout, maybe? He carefully breathed through his nose, scared to inhale any blood that may be pouring from an orifice somewhere around that area, while it continued to coat his dirtied hands and run down his black sleeves.

Eventually, the leg stopped. It was stuck, and it struggled to get further. Singular red eye boring its place in his memory permanently.

His heart was in his throat, and he tried to speak- ‘The spider can’t reach us anymore,’ he wanted to say.  
Instead, he only mumbled something inaudible and breathy.  
It wasn’t long after that, a few twists and turns- before he felt the harsh cold weather on his skin, signifying they were just about outside.

Wasn’t this bad? Weren’t they on, what, the 6th floor? He gulped as the bleach-blonde guiding the way pushed open the latch, falling forward- but no more than a troubled yelp. 

He followed after her, stumbling onto the maroon rusted grate that held them 20 metres in the air. 

They scaled around the outside walls of the building. The concrete was cold against his back and his arms- even through the two layers of sleeves protecting his body. He could only imagine the temperatures Yashiro could be facing right now: her arms were bare and adorned goosebumps. Her face didn’t seem to mind the bitter frost, though.

It was quite a few minutes of panicked breathing slowly calmed as they scaled the outside before they were in range of a building top, to which Yashiro jumped in an instant.

It scared him, honestly- his mind had been elsewhere while the bleeding threatened to stop, but he knew he looked like a bloody mess. He had barely noticed that there was anything coming up in his field of vision before the girl was beckoning him over.

His somber, bright amber eyes met her deep, serious, and- somehow: warm and caring magenta eyes. Hanako could identify the concern in her heart, as he let out a half-hearted sigh, not daring to look down as he jumped from edge to other edge.

He almost fell off: his balance was off-put, most likely from the amount of blood loss- but she grabbed his hand before he had the chance to.   
Couldn’t help it.  
Couldn’t help the temptation.

He was pulled forwards, and let himself lean into her body.

‘I’m so tired,’  
A quiet voice in his head repeated to him. Hanako recognized it as his own.

“Hanako-san?” A small, fuzzy, heartwarming voice. “Hanako-san--”  
That was all he could clearly hear before his mind dozed off, and he felt his eyes flutter shut. His vision went dark.

It was dark. And quiet.

So quiet.

Too quiet.

\---

It felt like hours before he opened his eyes again, images fluttering inside his head as he gasped wildly. His cranium was burning, and everything in his vision seemed brighter than the sun. Hanako squeezed his eyes shut again, wincing. He heard shuffling come from beside him, but that’s about it.

Suddenly, something cold and wet brushed against his cheek.  
His eyes shot open and he sat up in an instant, shying away from the touch.   
“You’re awake,” a familiar voice stated.  
No, really?  
He squinted, noticing the brightness cease within a few moments. It was like standing up and staring through blackened vision, waiting for the light to return- except it switched.  
It wasn’t actually that bright. No, it looked like they were inside a room. Of a house.. He’d assume, anyway. There was a couch behind them, a hooded lamp to the left, some dirty wooden side drawers with a window- and they seemed to be under a glass coffee table. There was mess and paper scattered all over the floor, and the only door seemed to be closed tight. There wasn’t even any light peering out from underneath it. 

He blinked away the sleep threatening his eyes, before turning to the girl next to him. 

Yashiro.

She looked the same as before, maybe a bit worried, but her legs and arms had been ridden of any dried blood. Maybe tinted red, but it was relatively clean. In her right hand, she was holding a cut piece of cloth that held smeared blood. He brought his hand up to his cheek, subtly swiping across his lips. No blood- Hanako brought his hand forward, checking. Only small specks.

“I didn’t use a lot of water, but I think we’ll need to go get more soon anyway.” She said, gingerly placing her warm hand on his shoulder and guiding him back to laying down. It was similar to second nature to not want to be pushed down like that, but it’s not like he could fight it.  
“How long have I been asleep?” He asked, unintentionally mumbling out the question.   
Yashiro hummed, thinking before giving any answer. “Not long. Maybe 15 minutes? It’s hard to tell the time around here.”  
Really?   
He would have guessed it would have been a few hours at the very least. It felt that way, anyway. “It felt like I’d been asleep forever.” He mentioned, letting his eyes flutter closed again. 

My head is pounding.

“Isn’t it always that way?” She questioned, and he let out a sigh.  
“What is that supposed to mean?”  
He felt an ice-cold cloth against his neck and he instinctively jerked, grabbing onto the girl’s wrist.  
“Sorry. Did that scare you?”  
“Warn me next time.” He grumbled, squeezing her wrist tight in his own palm before he let go. He didn’t mean to, but it was just… instinct.  
Silence. A quiet moment preliminary to normality, once again. Wet, bloodied cloth against his neck, probably cleaning up something he couldn’t exactly see. After all, he doubted that blood wouldn’t have found it’s way down his neck after he lost consciousness.  
Speaking of which, if he had gone into syncope, wouldn’t that mean he is in extreme danger? It was hard to gauge how much blood he had lost, especially since he had to run from a spider monster all the while. If he’s awake right now.. Then that’s good. Right? Perhaps he’d get out of this with only minor blood loss.

“I don’t know, I feel when I’m dreaming, it’s like I’ve been dreaming forever before I finally wake up.” She remarked; must have taken her sweet time thinking about it, huh?

“Or when it feels like you’ve only closed your eyes for a second, but then it’s dark outside.” He added on.

“Yeah.” She hesitated, pulling the cloth away. After a while it hadn’t been all that cold, but when it went away, his skin felt clammy in the areas that they had been touched.

One of their inevitable silences again. Sometimes it’d be awkward, other times it felt needed. Didn’t have much of a purpose, rather than making it clear that no one had anything to say after that. 

“You lost a lot of blood.”  
“Yeah.” He stated, dumbly.  
“I didn’t think you would have fallen face-first into the metal.”  
He let out a groan, mixed with the tiniest bit of laughter. “Tsukas--”

The name was like a sudden shock to his heart.  
Familiar, and left a sour taste on his tongue.   
He was sure he looked horrified, maybe puzzled, as did the girl leaning over him did.

“Eh?”

It felt like there was cotton stuffed in his ears.  
Tsukasa?  
Why did that name come to him?  
He… that’s his brother’s name. His younger twin brother.  
“I have a twin brother.” He announced, almost shocked.  
“What? You do?” She queried, seeming to not understand the situation at hand.  
“Where is he?” Hanako shot up again, refusing to be pushed back down.  
“I- I don’t know!” Yashiro replied earnestly, “Do you mean to tell me you had a twin brother this entire time and forgot about him?”  
“Uh…” The surrounding walls started to spin, and suddenly he was at a loss for words. “He… I… I came here alone.”   
“Where did you come from?”  
“I don't- I don’t know, I just sort of appeared, I think.”  
“What do you mean you appeared?”  
“I--”  
Cut off by loud thumps, very clearly emanating from outside the door. Nightmare fuel, I’d think; whatever was making those sounds knew they were here. His breath hitched, stinging his lungs with every breath. Thundering pounds on the door signaled to his brain.

It was very clear, they’d overstayed their welcome.

He was standing up, though his legs felt like gelatin. There was no way that just sitting there would help them, though. Whatever lurked outside the door clearly didn’t know how to use the door, because it seemed its only goal was to smash down that door.   
She helped too- Yashiro helped. She grabbed onto his arm to steady his upright posture, letting him work out how to escape on his own.  
She guided him up the couch, not seeming nearly as giant as it had seemed while he was laying on the floor. He climbed the arm rest, onto the back and over the window sill. Wood splintered nearby behind them, and he jumped onto the wet window panel below them. It was probably another open window, but he was done with the windows for right now. Yashiro jumped out after him, letting the slightest squeak out from her throat as her feet barely slipped.  
His arms were out, ready to grab her before it became apparent that she was alright. He exhaled through his nose, walking off to the side and jumping fearlessly to the top of the building. 

The office which had the Spider man was merely to the left of them, meaning she really hadn’t gone far.  
Wind blew hard, he almost feared that she would blow away if she attempted the jump.  
He held out his hand to her over the edge in case, but she only gave him a baffled look.   
“It’s an easy jump.”  
“I just thought you might need help, just in case! Better safe than sorry.”  
She made the jump effortlessly, stepping away from the edge. He backed up also, deciding finally that it was way too dangerous to lean over any more than he had to. Something told him that he’d be fine, though. 

“What, just because I’m a girl?” There was poison in her words, and he shrunk back.  
“What? No!” He denied frantically, leaving her suspicious.  
“Do you have some sort of… some sort of Hero complex?” She asked, crossing her arms.  
“Hero complex?!” Hanako couldn’t help but flush- this was the first time he’d been told he was full of himself. Honestly, before this, he hadn’t talked to many girls. Only his mom, and some girls from his class. They all thought he was weird, though, and so he ended up not talking to anyone for most of his school years.  
“Yeah! Do I have to remind you who saved you first?” She puffed out her cheeks, wind blowing her hair harshly in front of her face. To be honest, she kind of looked like an angry hamster.  
“N-No, ma’am-”  
“Don’t call me that, I’m only 15!” She shrieked, visibly concerned as she touched her face.  
“I’m sorry!” He cried out an apology, nervous in the moment.  
She huffed, turning her back to him as she walked off. “Whatever, we need to figure out our next move. To… get wherever we’re going.”   
Hanako only nodded, letting the conversation end there. He didn’t want to make a girl mad, especially when they were near the edge atop of a 6 story building. 

Together, they had no destination, but despite this it filled his soul with anticipation and determination; anxious to finish his journey. To go home.

**Author's Note:**

> The whole 'gut-feeling' with the Spider monster man (take a wild guess on who that was based off of) is supposed to be similar to how when Mono (main character in LN2, takes Hanako's place) dies- because you should never expect to beat a horror game perfectly on the first go- he is referred back to the last checkpoint. The last checkpoint in 'boss battles' tend to be right before the battle starts, so i imagine that the 'player' or Hanako as a being would have new abnormally-obtained intel on what works and what doesn't work in his life-or-death situation.   
> Furthermore, if you guessed 'Tsuchigomori' then you'd be absolutely right. I plan to design new monsters off of characters from TBHK.  
> It's also slightly apparent that Tsukasa would make a good Six (Six is the 2nd main character in LN2-the prequel to LN1, which she mains in. Yashiro fills this role) since they're both a bit crazy as apparent by their actions, Hanako makes a good Mono, and Yashiro would fit the role of RK/Seven (Officially dubbed Seven, but runaway-kid was the nickname that the fandom gave him while the name was unannounced from the DLC of LN1), trusting, sweet, and kind. It's a shame that I like Hanako/Yashiro relationships :D
> 
> P.S the little nightmares games is theorized to take place in Japan, and TBHK is based in Japan, so I thought it might be clever to base this one on the western side.   
> If you read through to the end, thank you! This is part of a series which I plan on continuing. They'll get more friendly in later chapters--unsure if it'll ever be a ship, maybe for the views, but ya know. <3


End file.
